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Diet Essential for Good Mental Health

Apr. 10, 2015|316 views

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A good quality diet that supplies consistent, optimal nutrition
is crucial for good physical and mental health. That’s accepted as more
or less common sense today, although we tend to focus on diet’s
impact on physical health more often. But new and emerging research underscores
the importance of good nutrition for sound mental health, too.

Dr Jerome Sarris,
at the University of Melbourne, Australia, is a member of the International
Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research (ISNPR). “While
the determinants of mental health are complex,”
says Sarris, “the emerging and compelling evidence
for nutrition as a key factor in the high prevalence and incidence of mental
disorders suggests that nutrition is as important to psychiatry as it is to
cardiology, endocrinology and gastroenterology.”

“In the last few years, significant links have been
established between nutritional quality and mental health,”
Sarris adds. “Scientifically rigorous studies have
made important contributions to our understanding of the role of nutrition in
mental health.” It’s time for
psychiatrists to start thinking about the whole patient when treating mental
illness, Sarris believes. He thinks that nutrient-based prescription makes
sense when treating some mental illness, at both the patient and population
levels.

Nutrients such as vitamins B12 and folate, omega-3 fatty acids,
choline, iron, zinc, magnesium, S-adenosyl methionine (SAMe), vitamin D, and
certain amino acids, are all
known to affect brain health, often to dramatic effect. A higher intake of
omega-3 fatty acids has been linked to a significantly lower risk of
depression, for example. Vitamin D levels have also been linked to mood and
other aspects of brain function. Low B-vitamin status has been linked to
dementia among the elderly.

“While we advocate for these to be consumed in the diet where
possible, says Dr. Sarris, “additional select prescription of
these as nutraceuticals (nutrient supplements) may also be justified.”
Dr. Sarris believes mental health experts need to integrate diet and
nutrition into their treatment regimens for a more integrative approach to
psychiatry that recognizes nutrition’s fundamental role in brain health.